IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Money and Mental Health response to Government employment white paper
26 November 2024
The government has today published its white paper on reforming support to help people move into employment, including plans designed to help people with mental health problems and other disabilities to move into and stay in work. These include:
- Measures to overhaul Jobcentre support, to offer a more personalised service to jobseekers bringing support together with the National Careers Service.
- An independent review into how employers can be better supported to employ people with disabilities and health conditions
- An additional 8,500 new mental health staff, and expanded access to Individual Placement and Support (which offers specialist mental health support for people experiencing severe mental illness), reaching 140,000 more people by 2028/29.
Helen Undy, chief executive of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute said:
“Mental health problems have been a key factor behind the rise in ill health in the UK. But for too long employment support has failed to recognise and address the specific barriers that people with mental health problems face when seeking work.
“Today’s announcements are a move in the right direction. In particular we welcome the plans to make Jobcentre support more personalised, and to help more people with mental health problems access specialised employment support that understands and meets their needs.
“But these announcements come in the context of worrying government plans to change the welfare system – including the Work Capability Assessment – which would remove a vital safety net for people with mental health problems and hit many people’s incomes.
“If the government is serious about helping more people into work, its employment reforms need to go hand in hand with a welfare system that gives people the time, support and income they need to get better and prepare for work.”
ENDS
For any media enquiries, please contact Brian Semple, Head of External Affairs at Money and Mental Health, on 07595 439 638 or [email protected]
Notes to Editors
About the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute
The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute is an independent charity set up by Martin Lewis, and committed to breaking the link between financial difficulty and mental health problems. We conduct research, develop practical policy solutions and work in partnership with both those providing services and those using them to find what really works. www.moneyandmentalhealth.org
We have written about the potential impact of changes to the Work Capability Assessment on people with mental health problems in this blog.